GREEN SOLUTIONS

Recommendations

Info

envac Patience – A Success Factor for World-leading Waste Company One of Sweden’s true success stories in cleantech exports is Envac. The company is a world leader in automated waste management and has 38 offices in 21 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Americas, and Australia. 42 | GREEN SOLUTIONS FROM SWEDEN
Why don’t we suck up waste with a vacuum cleaner? It seems that this question, posed at the end of the 1950s, would have a major impact on the waste management of the future. Back then, a hospital in northern Sweden was negotiating the purchase of a new central vacuum system, when the discussion suddenly took a different turn: “If we can suck all of the dust from every corner of the hospital using just one system, why can’t we do the same thing with waste?” No one had thought of the idea before, and no one knew if it was possible. It was. In 1961, Centralsug AB, now Envac, installed the first vacuum waste management system in the world in Sollefteå Hospital, northern Sweden. The system is still in operation today, still with many of the original parts from the early 1960s. Despite many attempts to convince others of the value of the technology, it still took four years after the first installation before the next contract came in 1965, when a municipal housing company in the Sundbyberg area of Stockholm decided to give the system a try. Ultimately, the first vacuum system for household waste in the world was installed in an entirely newly built neighborhood. This system is also still in operation today. A host of installations in the Stockholm area soon followed this first installation in a residential area in Ör in 1966. During a period spanning the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, underground waste transport systems servicing thousands of apartments were installed. Nonetheless, interest in this new technology was not only growing in Stockholm, but also abroad. Disney World in Orlando, Florida, opened in October 1971. Its aim was to offer visitors a chance to experience not only Disney’s own attractions, but also the latest in technological development. One of these technical innovations was the underground waste system that Centralsug supplied, and which is still in operation today. In spite of this high-profile US installation, it was primarily markets in southern Europe and Southeast Asia that attracted Envac’s interest. In the mid-1980s, the company began working the Spanish market. The first Spanish order finally came in 1988, when the city of Cartagena in the southeast ordered an underground waste transport system for a project covering 4,000 new homes. Installation began in 1989 and was completed GREEN SOLUTIONS FROM SWEDEN | 43
Page 1 and 2: SPECIAL EDITION FROM THE MAGAZINE M
Page 3 and 4: Jörgen Berglund nytt kommunalråd
Page 5 and 6: 38 iKea inveStS in cleantecH IKEA
Page 7 and 8: eea: sweden among top ten In recycl
Page 9 and 10: EuropE’s GrEEnEst BuildinG The he
Page 11 and 12: New TechNique Measures ciTies’ Gr
Page 13 and 14: WORLD BIOENERGY 2014 www.worldbioen
Page 15 and 16: five ive Sweden is home to more tha
Page 17 and 18: ________________________Aerogels In
Page 19 and 20: developed a drying cabinet that use
Page 21 and 22: Training in sustainable planning At
Page 23 and 24: Minister CoMbines it and energy in
Page 25 and 26: GREEN SOLUTIONS FROM SWEDEN | 25
Page 27 and 28: 60 contributions for a healthier pl
Page 29 and 30: Editorial column: larS linG iS cEo
Page 31 and 32: FOR CONTACT AND ORDERS: WWW.BACTERI
Page 33 and 34: China, India, and Russia are priori
Page 35 and 36: SUSTAINABLE THINKING IS WORKING TOG
Page 37 and 38: InternatIonal Interest In swedIsh w
Page 39 and 40: IKEA Invests Heavily in Cleantech V
Page 41: system provides long-term use and g
Page 45: exportS 5 SucceSSful export compani
Page 48 and 49: CleanteCh in sweden CleanteCh in sw
Page 50 and 51: CleanteCh In sweden Flow regulator
Page 52 and 53: CleaNTeCH Solar power IN SweDeN Gre
Page 54 and 55: CLEANTECH IN SWEDEN Umeå is home t
Page 56 and 57: CLEANTECH IN SWEDEN Green Business
Page 58 and 59: CLEANTECH IN SWEDEN In Sweden, a na
Page 60: POSTTIDNING B ECONOMIQUE Miljöaktu

GREEN SOLUTIONS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?